Saturday, three local chefs fired up the kitchen and taste buds of spectators at the International Fiery Foods Challenge as part of the Travel & Adventure Show at the Dallas Convention Center. Kenneth Patrick, the owner of Ken’s Texas Catering, made habanero shrimp. Spiceupyoursoul blog creator, Prajakta Remulkar, prepared a spicy gambas dish, and the founders of Brothers Sauces, Barry and Darryl King hit it hard with Crockpot pork.

jump to find out who won the competition AND the trip to Mexico…

The audience sampled and voted for the best dish, along with three judges. Kenneth Patrick’s shrimp received the “Hottest Flame” award. “I wanted to show people an easy way to cook shrimp as a full flavored dish, every bite has spice from the peppers but the pineapple and mango balanced out the heat,” Patrick said.

Prajakta Remulkar received the “Balanced Flame” award for her Philippine dish. “The competition was fantastic and so much fun. I believe food is the key to bringing people together, and I hope that the dish inspired people to explore what other cultures have to offer,” Remulkar said.

The crowd’s choice, crockpot pork, was awarded to Barry and Darryl King. “BBQ is king in Texas, and you can’t argue with the crowd. We’d rather be the peoples’ champ out of an audience of 60 than the judges’ favorite from a panel of three. There are a lot of what we call “Brother’s Lovers” out there, and you can’t pay people to brag about our sauce the way they do,” King said.

Audience members were given a copy of each recipe to take home. Travel Channel’s own Mark DeCarlo, former host of Taste America with Mark DeCarlo emceed the event and hosted a cooking challenge on Sunday. “I love coming to travel expos like this because people that travel understand how to enjoy themselves. The best way to travel is through food. I wouldn’t recommend eating a whole pepper like the judge did today though,” DeCarlo said.

On Sunday, Mark DeCarlo invited audience members to compete in their own cooking challenge. Three audience members each prepared a spicy and simple guacamole dish from his book, A Fork on the Road: 400 Cities, One Stomach. The winner received a vacation package to Mexico’s Yucatan. (Winner’s name TBA.)